Corrie Dubh Virgin

Me airborne - Shoulder of Ben Nevis in the background

Don Juan on the Climbers' Col

Me again!

Don Juan asks himself "how did I get here?"

The Back Corries at Aonach Mor are one of those places that you hear mentioned in reverential tones by Scottish Skiers. There are other runs that offer a huge adrenalin rush – the Flypaper at Glencoe and the Tiger at Glenshee spring to mind – but nowhere offers such extensive lift-served off-piste skiing as the Back Corries.

Until this weekend, I had never skied the back Corries. I’ve been up Aonach Mor quite a few times but because this is Scotland, it has usually been in whiteout conditions and 90mph winds. To get into the back corries you have to pass over an impressive snow cornice which forms on the ridge between Aonach Mor and Aonach Beag, and there is no way I’m going over an edge like that unless I can see what’s below!

My good friend, the unlikely lothario Don Juan, has been well and truly bitten by the Scottish skiing bug this season and had managed to persuade some of his chums from back home to try their hand at it. This was a brave move; most had never skied before and all of them lived in Northampton.

Another key rule about Scottish skiing: - “Never plan a trip in advance if you’re coming a long distance; wait until a few days before and assess the snow conditions then.”

Unbelievably, the Northamptoners arrived to a blue-sky Scotland with snow-clad peaks and little wind. Driving up the A82 felt like being in a Visitscotland commercial. I’d had to work on Friday while the Northamptoners tackled Glencoe, and when I arrived at Corran Bunkhouse on Friday evening I was relieved to discover they’d thoroughly enjoyed themselves and managed the blue runs from the Cliffhanger Chair back onto the Meall a’Bhuiridh Plateau. That’s impressive stuff for someone who’s never been on skis before.

So, on Saturday morning after a pleasant Friday night watching the students of Northumbria University Kayak Club go skinny dipping in Loch Linnhe at midnight, we piled into the Bongo and set off for Aonach Mor.

The Northamptoners struggled a bit with Aonach Mor in the morning. I think the spring snow they’d experienced at Glencoe yesterday afternoon was more forgiving, and the poma lift which accesses mid-mountain at Aonach Mor starts on snowflex , then passes over a couple of slush patches, dodges round a bewildered ptarmigan or two, and then snakes on up the hill at an increasingly steep incline. This is not an ideal scenario for a new skier, and teddies began be ejected from prams – not thrown from prams, but certainly pushed over the edge of them with a slight hint of resentment.

Don Juan and I went off to ski Warren’s, a rather steep red run with beautifully groomed snow. Given the donkey-like skiing of Don Juan at Cairngorm last week, I was confused to see him disappear down the slope carving perfect parallels, gracefully stopping only to seduce hot snowboarding chicks every few hundred yards.

We then headed for the main purpose of the day – the Back Corries. Don Juan’s mastering of Warren’s had convinced me that he could manage Coire Dubh, but the entry would be a worry. We skied off the top of Warren’s T-Bar and traversed onto the Lemming Ridge, where we luckily found the easiest entry into the Back Corries, the unfairly-named Yellow Belly. This was only Don Juan’s seventh or eighth day on skis, and blood visibly drained from his face as he contemplated the drop in.

Despite its name, Yellow Belly still involves a drop through the cornices onto a steep headwall, followed by a long descent to the Braveheart chairlift. Don Juan went first, and despite a sideways fall (followed by 50m head first plunge) he made a thoroughly decent job of the decent.
The Braveheart chairlift only runs a few days a year, so we were very lucky to ride it. Only one person is allowed per chair despite it being a two-seater, in order to reduce the load on the aging engine. The Braveheart/Mel Gibson connection reminded me of something Tam Cowan said after the actor had been arrested in LA and had an anti-semetic drunken rant at police: “When Mel Gibson did Braveheart no-one thought he’d be able to pull off playing a Scotsman. But look at him now. An alcoholic and a racist. He’s done us proud!”

Back to the main restaurant to meet the others via an entertaining traverse on the steep scarp slopes above the Great Glen. Alex and Jen had serious sense of humour failure – Jen having mistakenly ended up on the Goose red run, and Alex having knackered himself on the poma lifts. I adopted the old trick of being annoyingly upbeat and pretending not to notice their discomfort. This had the sole effect of making me look like a prick, which to be fair is not an unreasonable analysis.

Making the difficult decision to help the Northamptoners instead of going in search of Back Corrie Glory, we headed to the Quad Chair to avoid the poma lifts. Alex made a superb recovery and made it all the way down Easy Rider blue run, including the narrow section at the bottom, with only a couple of falls.

I decided that if the Northamptoners were happy on this run, it gave me the opportunity to revisit the back. I caught a variety of lifts to the summit, and headed on my own to the top of Chancer. Chancer is a proper cornice drop, and a group of snowboarders were kind enough to keep a close eye on me as I plummeted into the bowl. Outstandingly, I managed to stay in control – just – and skied down a bit to catch my breath and stop shaking! The lifts had stopped working now, so I traversed out again and made my way to the top of the Gondola to meet the others.

Funny, skiing, isn’t it? I had one of my days of the season, but the group from Northampton had really struggled until the snow softened considerably in the afternoon. In a way, it was a shame the conditions were so good – I quite like hanging round with new skiers, laughing with them at falls and bumps and dispensing (normally very bad) advice. It's not easy to hang round on blue runs when an off-piste paradise is open on the back of the mountain though – hopefully Alex, Jen, Henson, Jonno and Kirsty enjoyed their experiences and will soon be back to the wonder that is Scottish skiing!

It’s not over yet either…………..